The First Twitter Transition: Why is Badlands Park trending?

The first Twitter transition, it seems, while seamless at the top-level @POTUS account, isn’t so among the many hundreds, if not thousands, of Twitter-verified executive branch accounts.

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Then, Tuesday, the internet—as it often does—rallied around a new hero: @BadlandsNPS, a Twitter-verified account for Badlands National Park maintained, presumably, by federal employees of the National Park Service. Somebody, or a few individuals with access to the account, posted (now deleted) factoids about climate change, defying the post-inaugural “gag order” implemented by the Trump administration, as reported by CNN:

“Now that social media guidance has been clarified, the Department and its bureaus should resume Twitter engagement as normal this weekend, with the exception of social media posts on the Secretary’s policy priorities, which will be outlined upon confirmation.”

(via Screenshot)

The deletion of the four climate change tweets quickly become a cause célèbre among the internet left. @BadlandsNPS became their hero, complete with a parody account. Allegations of censorship, suppression of free speech, or hatred of science were common themes. “More like BadASS National Park, AMIRITE!?” has been a popular rallying cry, albeit too long for a #hashtag.